San Carlos BioPower to put up 18-MW biomass plant

MANILA, Philippines - San Carlos BioPower Inc. (SCBioPower) will put up an 18-megawatt (MW) biomass plant within the San Carlos Ecozone, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental that will utilize sugarcane residues as feedstock.

The biomass plant will be built alongside the existing San Carlos Bionergy ethanol facility.

Feedstock for the plant will consist of sugarcane residues typically left in the fields after harvest and energy crops from dedicated plantations. These principal feedstock sources will be augmented by other, locally available agricultural residue biomass.

The facility will provide electricity to an area of short supply and increasing demand for power, and will provide an additional source of income to the local farming community.

The main power plant and associated infrastructure will be built on a 20-hectare property while another five hectares will be allocated for fuel storage.

Meanwhile, SCBioPower secured its first 30-percent equity commitment from ThomasLloyd’s Cleantech Infrastructure Fund. It will be a greenfield, stand alone power plant with a generation capacity of 18-MW supplying base-load power to the local grid.

“SCBioPower is committed to providing sustainable power from renewable sources of energy and to maintaining the environmental integrity of the surrounding area upon its completion in late 2013,” it said in a statement.

Bronzeoak Philippines, the proponent of SCBioPower, is leader in the development, implementation and management of sugarcane-based energy projects in the Philippines.

The company completed the construction on the first integrated cane-based ethanol and power cogeneration plant in Asia called San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. in late 2008.

Bronzeoak Philippines expanded by developing additional power capacity to help achieve the country’s goals of energy independence and sustainable development.

Bronzeoak Philippines recently joined with the Swiss-German ThomasLloyd Group Plc to strengthen its development portfolio.